Strangest food (besides wood) that you've ever eaten...

One night back in 1970 while stationed in the Philippines and very drunk I ate balut. I did it on a dare and even won some money. I can’t imagine doing it today. Anybody that’s ever been stationed in the P.I. knows what balut is. There are pictures of it online if you’re interested. My first taste of duck…A lot of us are veterans that have been stationed overseas and have probably eaten some strange food. Tell us your experience.

21 replies so far

When I was in Viet Nam we were in the jungles, and our Vietnamese interpreter cooked some “nook-mom” (sp). which is raw fish heads and rice w/ fish sause…..We were all hungry, as we didn’t get any chow choppered in to us because of ground fire on the choppers….Nastiest crap I’ve ever smelled, or put in my mouth….!!! One bite was enough for me..!!~

Cabo – I lived in the Philippines for 6 months and I never got drunk enough to eat balut.even when I see Andrew Zimmerman eat it on TV and raves about the “little bits of crunchy of goodness” it makes my stomach turn . . . just plain yuky awfulnow, lechon, on the other hand, I will stand in line for.

but, yes – - – X2 on the balut. and the durian fruit from china is my worst.

I have eaten muskrat a couple of times when I was kid and moose once when I was in my 20s. Back in my youth, it was not uncommon for fire departments, VFVs and the like in Southern Maryland to have “Muskrat Dinners” on a weekend night as fund raising events. Those I ate were trapped by a great uncle on the farm.

I have eaten muskrat a couple of times when I was kid and moose once when I was in my 20s. Back in my youth, it was not uncommon for fire departments, VFVs and the like in Southern Maryland to have “Muskrat Dinners” on a weekend night as fund raising events. Those I ate were trapped by a great uncle on the farm.

- OleGrump

Muskrat is sometimes called “marsh rabbit” to make it sound more appetizing. I’m guessing it tastes much like other small game? Never tried muskrat, but I’ve eaten my fair share of squirrels, I don’t consider that strange. Moose isn’t that uncommon, just another form of venison.

I’m from Maine but my ancestral heritage is Quebec. That’s where this stuff comes from.

As a kid, I’d come home from school and enter through the cool back room. There I’d find on the table a pig’s head, a gallon of blood in a gallon glass jug, and the four pig’s feet. We knew some local farmers.

My mother would slice all the flesh of the pigs face, ears, nose, etc, grind it up with spices and make what is called ‘hogs head cheese’. If you’ve had some from a store it’s now just made with pork. Not the same. It’s a sandwich spread sort of like a dryer deviled ham.

She’d pour the blood into large pans and mix it with dairy and spices. It would be baked and served like a pudding. Blood pudding. Blood sausage is made the same way except that you pack it into the intestine lining to make sausages.

The feet… well that was special, Pigs feet and macaroni. Boil the feet a long time with spices until the broth is actually glue like. Add macaroni that’s hard to find now. It’s long like a big soda straw with a hole in the center. The sticky broth would fill the center. Unbelievable taste. Like nothing you’ve had. You get sticky eating it.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.